Category — Traffic

Is relief in sight for commuters jammed on B-Line buses on Vancouver’s Broadway Corridor? That may depend on the outcome of the HST referendum and Premier Christy Clark’s election calculations.

Despite the dramatic growth in ridership since the 2010 Games, Translink has no funding to add new service, never mind complete the Evergreen Line. Evergreen construction would clear the way for final planning on the Broadway Corridor, where Translink’s options are getting positive reviews in the latest round of consultations.

The Translink Mayor’s Council meeting that must green light a new funding formula, including a proposed increase in the gas tax, is less than a month away. After some serious confusion, Premier Clark has endorsed Blair Lekstrom’s tentative agreement with the mayors on the gas tax, but the ever-fractious Mayor’s Council has some major players who are almost certain to oppose ratification.

If the debate is unfolding in the midst of a provincial election triggered by the HST referendum result, and on the eve of the Nov. 19 municipal elections, any outcome is possible. Riders, hold on tight.

Jan Broocke,  director of the Passenger Transportation Board, says  there are a number of inaccuracies in my account, published here earlier this week, of the PTB’s review of a proposal to allow suburban taxi firms to send 15 percent of their fleets into the Vancouver market on Fridays, Saturdays and special event days.

The clarifications are helpful, but don’t change my view that the suburban firms’ application should not be processed until Vancouver has evaluated the current pilot program that added 65 temporary licences to Vancouver’s fleet. That won’t happen until early 2012.

For the record, here is Ms Broocke’s letter: [Read more →]

The thorny issue of how to provide sufficient taxi service to Vancouver’s downtown core on Fridays, Saturdays and special event nights may be back on the front burner, despite the sudden resignation of the chair of the province’s Passenger Transportation Board.

Lawyer Nathan Bauder, a supporter of Premier Christy Clark, was appointed to head the PTB July 8. He  was forced to resign Aug. 3 after being cited by the Law Society in connection with allegations of falsifying documents.

During Bauder’s short term, the board suddenly revived a hearing into applications from 16 suburban taxi firms to operate 15 percent of their fleets in Vancouver on Friday and Saturday nights. Those applications were effectively put on hold in a March 17 decision that approved a Vancouver pilot program to tackle the issue with 65 temporary cab licences, all issued to Vancouver firms,  on the high-traffic nights.

So the Vancouver industry was stunned when the  PTB’s July 27 bulletin suddenly announced that the hearing into the suburban firms’ application is back on. The deadline for submissions on the matter was  Aug. 11.

In its March 17 ruling, the PTB approved 65 special temporary licences for Vancouver firms for a six-month period, all operating on Friday and Saturday nights and special event days, with a formal evaluation process to determine their impact. That pilot program will not be completed until November and the evaluation will not be available until early 2012.

Nonetheless, the PTB appears set to make a decision on the suburban application. If approved, it will trigger an upheaval in the regional taxi industry.

The March 17 ruling — available on a link for the Yellow Cab application in this March 23 bulletin – noted that the suburban taxi application “could potentially impact not only service in the Vancouver area but also service in other municipalities in the Greater Vancouver Regional District.”

That’s why it made sense to hold off on the suburban firms’ applications until the Vancouver pilot project was approved. Despite an Aug. 4 appeal from the City of Vancouver to stay the course set in March, the PTB seems to be forging ahead with a hearing that could set a new direction for taxi service region-wide.

It was to be the biggest traffic catastrophe since the creation of bike lanes on the Burrard Bridge: a weekend closure of LA’s crucial 405 freeway that would paralyze Los Angeles.

But like so many traffic congestion nightmares, “Carmageddon” didn’t materialize. People walked, took a bus, cycled, drove other routes or just stayed home.

Suddenly, nothing happened. It’s possible, just possible, LA could do better with fewer cars.

Craziest outcome of the day? An airline offering stranded drivers discount flights from Burbank to Long Beach found itself in a head-to-head race with a team of cyclists. A passenger leaving a Hollywood intersection at the same time the Wolfpack Hustle team put their pedals down but just leaving taking off when they arrived at Long Beach.

Of course, the airplane passenger didn’t have to shower.

Don’t be fooled: any change to Vancouver’s Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts could be devastating. Or not.